The Search for the Precursor Light
by madonnawayne
Summary: Two aelfs called Hina and Early make a startling discovery: former Dark Eco sage Gol Acheron survived his death at the citadel, but is dying of dark eco poisoning.
1. Prologue

**Jaktion**

**PROLOGUE**

**"Piper"**

Piper.

It was a small village - smaller than Sandover on the opposite side of Sentinel Beach with it's big windmills and crops. Unlike Sandover, Piper used hardly any blue eco to power their homes and over three quarters the village lit their homes with candles. Only a few homes, such as the butcher, and the scholar's house up next to the rocky walls had access to the eco gained from the nearby jungle. Piper was a fishing community - every boy wanted to grow up to be a fisherman like his father. Nothing stopped the fisherman of Piper from fishing in Sentinel Bay, not even the ferocious lurker sharks that began frequenting the waters around the coast. The fisherman of Piper were famed to be the only aelfs on the continent fierce enough to face the notorious lurker sharks.

This legend was only partially true. There was one young, adventurous fisherwoman who - though she quickly denied it at every opportunity - was definetely afraid of those sharks. Few say it was because she was a girl, but they were immediately shut up by the other female fishers. Others say that it was because she was not born a fisherman, but born to a butcher. Truth be told, whether she was born to a butcher or fisher, the girl would never be either at heart. She didn't want to be Butcher's daughter, or some future fisherman's wife. This girl wanted to see the wonders of the world, learn the mysteries of the past and most of all - never ever have to fish again.

At this very moment, this one certain fishing girl had neglected to show up to her post.


	2. Chapter 1 : Discovery

**The Search for the Precursor Light**

**_By MSC Larrinaga_**

Chapter 1:

_Discovery_

_A long, long time ago – some time after the War that destroyed the vast machine cities, but long before the present day – an explorer, whose name has long ago been forgotten, set foot for the first time on a little island off the coast, and was the first ever to do so. Like its little cousin (who would come to be called 'Geyser Rock,') the small island was lush and beautiful, with deep canyons and tall peaks. The explorer visited it many times before he died. In his honor, the people of his village named the small isle after his one and only child, a daughter named 'Misty.' _

_Since then, the trees have died, the grass has withered, and the land has gone barren. A heavy fog has fallen over the island, clinging to every thing, and obscuring every deep rift. Life is sparse, as now the isle is occupied only by lurkers and other beasts unknown. To this day, the real meaning behind "Misty Isle" has long been forgotten._

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It was an unusually quiet night for the Misty Isle, and the two explorers traveling its shores expected nothing more, and nothing less. While the vast expanse of sky was void of any stars, the moon tried valiantly to shine through the thick fog that choked the island, but so far it had no success. The only sounds the two ælfs heard were the crunching of their foot-steps on the rocky shore while the waves slowly came in and out, and the whistling of the ocean breeze bringing in the sweet, salty smell of the water.

"Weren't you supposed to be on post today?" Early Blue asked for the third time that night, earning a playful sigh and roll of the eyes from his companion.

Early was not only an archaeologist, inventor, doctor, and one of the most gifted Precursor scholars in all the land of the Green Sun, but also one of the most absent-minded ælfs in his village of Piper. Early was not born of his village, but was brought there as a child by on of the Sages from the North visiting Piper's neighboring village of Sandover. Ever since then, Early had been raised by the village healers as their own son. Trained as a doctor by his adoptive parents, Early was well versed in the practice of healing. First and foremost, he knew more about anyone in the use of green eco to aid the healing process. Early could do surgery, set bones, re-attach limbs, and basically do everything required of a doctor _except one thing_. Amputations made Early queasy and uncomfortable when he was holding the saw, so they were left to the local butcher, Tuscan Aurelius.

"Oh shush!" retorted Hina Aurelius; post-deserter, butcher's daughter, and childhood pal of Early Blue. "You know I hate fishing! Fish are disgusting, what with those rolling eyes and, and," Hina made a face, "BLECH!"

"I'm sure," Early sighed half-heartedly, as the two of them walked amongst the craggy rock formations and giant skeletal fossils that covered the beach. "You cannot just keep abandoning your post every time. You have got to accept the fact that adventure is not just going to grab hold of you by the le—"

Hina shrieked as she tripped over a rock, arms pin-wheeling haphazardly as she almost took Early with her. Luckily, Early managed to regain his balance, only to see Hina doubled over awkwardly on the dusty ground with her face in the sand and her rear in the air.

"Excuse me, but what has just happened?"

The dust and sand around Hina's face rippled as she let out a breath and groaned, and pulled herself into a more convenient sitting position.

"Are you okay?"

"No-kay!" Hina growled, looking up at Early with a face all a sandy and grey scowl.

Looking towards her point of descent, Hina reached over to grab what had tripped her. For one thing, it was too heavy to be a rock of its size. It was round, like a ball, and had about two feet of rope tied to it that was frayed at the end, as if it had been torn or cut. "What is it?" she looked up at Early.

Early kneeled down and placed his hands upon the sphere, feeling its worn surface. The thing was heavy, and it took some effort to lift it off the ground. He wondered what sort of creature would bear such an unwieldy object, and why?

"I think it is a . . ." Early took a second to compile his thoughts. "I think it is a weight of some kind. Like the kind you would tie to the ankle of a prisoner to keep him from escaping. What I do not understand is why the weight utilized a rope that has obviously been so easy to remove!"

Hina scratched behind her long thin ears thoughtfully with a forefinger. "Maybe they didn't want to float away?" Her facial expression was dead serious.

Early stared at Hina, waiting for the corners of her mouth to spread into a grin, but nothing happened. He shook his head and inspected the weight once more before standing up and dusting off. He looked up at Hina, but she was already a tiny figure far down the beach. She stopped suddenly, and pointed at the rock wall.

"A cave!"

"Hina, stop right this instant!" Early shouted, exasperated. "You could get injured!"

"Good thing you're a doctor, then!" Hina made a coy face, and raced inside the cave.

Early sighed angrily to himself. Hina was always doing things without thinking them through first, ever since she was a child. As he walked, Early remembered the time she tried to catch her first fish . . . barehanded. She had only seen about five or six years, and had been playing at Pelican's Inlet, on Sentinel beach. Seeing a colorful gliding rainbowfish fluttering through the cool waters, Hina jumped in after it. At this time, she only knew how to dog paddle, despite growing up in a fisherman's village. When she didn't come back up, Early panicked, and dove into the water after her, only to find her trapped under the rushing waterfall. Hina never wanted to go to Pelican's Inlet again, and she still hadn't to this day. Most people who didn't know Hina very well assumed that the incident at Pelican's Inlet was what made her loathe fish. It may have sparked it, but deep down Early tried to forget the true cause for her painful hatred.

Early trudged through the dusty sand to the cave Hina ran so excitedly into. A large mouth of dark loomed before him like a feral beast, ready to devour him – bags and all. Cautiously, Early stepped up to the lip of the ominous cave.

"Hello?" his voice echoed to the ends of the cave like a million Earlys, until it finally reverberated back to him, only to return to the eerie silence. Early sighed again, and massaged his temples to make the tense pain in his head slip away. He took a deep breath, and stepped into the cave.

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The room was a sizeable one, and it was hard for Hina to fathom that it had been carved out of the rock wall at the end of the tunnel. The walls were flat, and painted warm beige that was only yellowed even further by each candle Hina lit. Every side of the room had a table with books and papers strewn about, and several shelves littered with what Hina assumed to be Precursor artifacts. In one corner was a large inactive Teleporter Gate that exuded a low hum, which meant the thing was still in a well enough working condition. Hina walked over to a little counter island set in the middle of the room. The reddish wooden counter was covered with stacks of drawings, equipment, and things she could hardly identify. She picked up one of the pieces of worn parchment, looking closely at the red ink drawing. It was some sort of a monolithic beast, but nothing she had ever seen. Hina swore she saw something just like it in one of Early's Precursor history books – a beast made of metal with an insect snout. She shrugged and exchanged it with a worn green jewel, which she discreetly placed into her hip pocket.

"………iiiinaaaaaaaaaaa……" Early's voice echoed almost eerily through the tunnel entrance. Hina almost expected him to call out for her instead of coming directly in to look for her. That was Early, never wanting to walk into a dangerous situation with out useless precaution first. It's not as if it were needed, nothing interesting our dangerous happened to the both of them anyways, Hina though sourly to herself.

Rolling her eyes, she stalked over to the door to another room. She walked in, the image before her not registering in her mind. She looked down at the blood smeared on her hand from the door handle.

She was out before she hit the floor.


End file.
